Bios

Dylan Gascon, editor-in-chief, graduated with a BA in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside. Even though emphasizing in fiction, he has found himself drifting into the realm of non-fiction. A freelance writer by day and nightclub bouncer by night, Dylan writes about his experiences, trying to make sense of it all.

Fiction Editors:

Johnathan Etchart is a dude. When he’s not out on the town duding it up, he’s duding it in his room into the wee hours of the morning. Occasionally, you might find him duding down at the local watering hole or at Applebees. Johnathan lives in Dudesville, CA with his cats. He graduated dUdeCR with a BA in creative writing and a minor in Japanese and underwater dudery.

A graduate of UC Riverside’s Creative Writing program; Jenny Lin is working on writing and illustrating her own children’s books. She enjoys all types of arts and crafts from watercolor painting to making felt animals. Scarves are by far her favorite articles of clothing and she is on a quest to collect a scarf of every color though she isn’t quite sure where she’ll find room for them all. She loves writing lengthy snail mail letters with colored pens and her cat Nori in her lap.

Melinda Smoot is a wife with a constantly insatiable reading and writing appetite. She graduated from the University of California, Riverside with a major in Creative Writing, fiction emphasis. Since then, she has written many terrible first drafts, which she fully intends to send out—once revised of course. When Melinda isn’t reading or writing, she is either working on her katas for karate or volunteering—one such example being her help with Sunny Hills Church of Christ Youth Theater program during the summer months. She currently resides in Orange County with her husband, cat, and two very vocal beagles.

Stephen Williams is a janitor in a small desert town where the only thing to do for fun is catch rattlesnakes. He holds a degree in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside where he won the Chancellor’s Performance Award for excellence in fiction. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Menacing Hedge, Sanitarium, Underneath the Juniper Tree, and Goreyesque. His first novel, Among the Ruins, will be released by Villipede Publications in 2015.

Nonfiction Editors:

Collette Curran is a procrastinator, yet despite this abhorrent trait, she still managed the discipline to graduate UC Riverside with BA in both Creative Writing and Japanese. Collette spent two years teaching English at Gaigo Gakuen in Hiroshima, Japan. She’s now back stateside and living the life of an artist in Los Angeles. Her interests include bread, sleep paralysis and horseback riding.

William Ellars is a white kid raised by a Mexican family in a black neighborhood. He is also a professional chef and reading enthusiast. He’s been your goto haunted maze clown at Knott’s Scary Farm for ten years running. He currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Never quiet, but often ostracized Anastasia Zamora began writing her ideas down in notebooks at the age of 10. Today, this has become a venting habit that takes form in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and current events. She received an award at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges conference for her lifestyles piece in La Cima Magazine. Though having only been in an official writing and editing position for two years her passion for encouraging young writers has caused her to be a bit of an old bitty at school constantly egging, “If I were you I’d try writing for the school newspaper.” She is an Environmental Science major at Rio Hondo College and currently is a native to both Whittier and Lynwood, CA.

Poetry

Sean Hisaka graduated with a Bachelor’s in English and a minor in Japanese from the University of California, Irvine. He’s a very simple guy; burns his spinach quiche like any other man, write poems of love unrequited from women who refer to him as “Oh, that guy?”, and sips lukewarm Jäger on Monday nights.

Shaymaa Mahmoud is both a rebellious free spirit and a shy hermit, depending on the day. When not doing after-school volunteer work or on service trips to the Navajo reservation, she enjoys reading, swimming, tea, random day trips to nearby forests, cooking and rainy days. She has been published in multiple on and off-campus publications, including The Chiron Review, the CLAM, and a nature and writing chapbook titled Field Guide. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley with two Bachelor’s Degrees in English Literature and Gender & Women’s Studies, and lives in Berkeley with her rescue pup, Lizzy.

Staff

Owen Torres, founder, is an MFA candidate at Fresno State University with an emphasis in fiction. He was the recipient of the Abraham Polonsky Award at UC–Riverside and won honorable mention in Mt. San Antonio College’s Writer’s Day competition (2008) for his work. His publication accolades include The Chiron Review (2014), Mosaic Art and Literary Journal (2011), Carnival Literary Magazine (Nov. 2011 and June 2012), Creepy Gnome Magazine (Vol. 3). He was a fiction editor for The San Joaquin Review and an editorial assistant for The Normal School, both print and online. He is the proud owner of a Poetic License and uses it regularly.